Murfreesboro Rattlers fall to CP Knights 50-14

ROSBORO – Murfreesboro Senior J.C. Motley threw two touchdown passes in the second quarter Friday night in the Rattlers’ non-conference opener at in-county rival Centerpoint. He threw a 57-yarder to Tyler Tomlinson and a 37-yarder to Bryle Fatheree.

The Rattlers dropped the game, 50-14.

Despite the offensive effort, the Rattlers trailed the Knights 21-0 when Motley first found Tomlinson and trailed 34-8 when he threw a pass toward the sidelines where Fatheree caught it and raced to the end zone.

After trading possessions to open the game, Murfreesboro quickly found itself down 14-0 in the first quarter after a short field allowed the Knights to score and an interception derailed a promising Rattler drive.

The Rattlers were caught in the onslaught by a Centerpoint offense that rang up 427 total yards to 197 for the visiting Murfreesboro squad.

Centerpoint Senior Knight Blake Crawford scored three times in the first quarter and once more in the second. Before the first half was over, quarterback Owen Bright found Austin Browning twice (20 and 33 yards) for scores.

Centerpoint led 40-14 by halftime. They added 10 more points on a 21 yard field goal by Eric Valdez and a three yard TD run by Drew Fowler. Valdez also kicked the PAT’s for the 50-14 final score.

For the game, Motley was 4/10 for 119 yards and two touchdowns, along with an interception. Payten Diffee went 3/7 for 17 yards and an interception.

Motley also led the Rattlers on the ground, rushing for 50 yards on 14 carries. Tomlinson added 18 yards on six carries and Michael Hughes tallied 16 yards on two carries.

Tomlinson had two catches for 71 yards and a TD, while Allmon added three catches for 27 yards.

Overall, Murfreesboro ran the ball 34 times for 69 yards and completed 7 of 17 pass attempts for 136 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions.

On defense, Zane Flaherty led the way for Murfreesboro with 12 tackles, Allmon added nine and an interception, Motley eight, Nathan Plyler six and Justin Faulkner five.

Faulkner punted five times for an average of 20.8 yards a punt.

Bright led the way for Centerpoint, going 16/27 for 210 yards, 2 TDs and an interception. Crawford rushed 20 times for 196 yards and 4 TDs, while Drew Fowler added 49 yards on five rushes and a TD. Michael Bright had nine receptions for 109 yards and a TD.

Centerpoint ran the ball 31 times for 244 yards. Crawford ran it 18 times for 187 yards and four TD’s. Fowler ran it six times for 47 yards and one TD. The Knight passing was 16 of 26 tries for 183 yards and two scores.

The Rattlers will host Horatio this Friday, who opened the season with a 21-8 win over Dierks.